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On Populist Reason and Populism and the Mirror of Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2006

Margaret Kohn
Margaret Kohn
Affiliation:
University of Florida
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Extract

On Populist Reason. By Ernesto Laclau. New York: Verso, 2005. 224p. $26.00 cloth, $20.00 paper.

Populism and the Mirror of Democracy. Edited by Francisco Panizza. New York: Verso, 2005. 288p. $75.00 cloth, $25.00 paper.

In the wake of Thomas Frank's bestselling book What's the Matter With Kansas (2004), scholars and citizens are turning to the concept of populism as a way to make sense of the strength and popularity of the far Right in the United States. In order to unravel the puzzle of why working-class voters would enthusiastically support a political party that is committed to cutting taxes for the wealthy, dismantling popular social programs, and subsidizing corporate welfare, scholars need to jettison the old Marxist-inspired paradigm that assumes that political identities are products of economic interests. At least that is one of the lessons of Ernesto Laclau's fascinating book.

Type
BOOK REVIEWS: POLITICAL THEORY
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , March 2006 , pp. 165 - 167
Copyright
© 2006 American Political Science Association

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